The home of Bearded Dragons - Pogona Vitticeps
General Information | Silkback Bearded Dragons
What is a silkback bearded dragon?
A silkback bearded dragon is the scale less or "Silkback" version of a bearded dragon it is the super form of leatherback, also known as the homozygous form and a result of breeding two co-dominant (heterozygous aka visual hets) leatherback dragons together. However, the whole clutch will not be silkback, but approximately 25% and the rest are a mix of leatherbacks and normals.
In the breeder world, silkbacks are commonly misunderstood as being "dominant" form/gene of mixing two co-dominants (leatherbacks) together. However, this is incorrect because if the silkback gene was dominant and mixed with a normal dragon, all offspring should become silkbacks if the gene were dominant. Instead you will get leatherbacks, which makes the silkback gene homozygous co-dominant. The only known dominant gene for a bearded dragon is simply a normal dragon.
The lateral spines are also absent from these animals, they do look visually different to a normal bearded dragon and has a mixed reception in the reptile work. However, a lot of this is from the misunderstanding of how the silkback has come into being as many believe it's a result of generation of inbreeding, but in fact like the leatherback it was a result of a fluke.
With the absence of scales, the actual colouration of the animal is much more vibrant and striking. I don't have much experience with the husbandry of this line, but will post more when I know more. It is known that they require a less UV and heat than a normal bearded dragon. However, I challenge this information because a silkback will need the same amount vitamin D3 absorption as a normal bearded dragon for healthy bones and temperatures for help in it's digestive system. Please don't take this advice as care information, but an opinion and will research vigorously to get an answer.
As with all the various available bearded dragon morphs, the traits can be bred together so you can in theory get high red hypo translucent silkback/leatherback bearded dragon. They are available, but very rare and extremely expensive. I have heard that one had been sold for over £2500.
Breeding | Colour Morphs | Leatherbacks | Silkbacks | Translucents | Hypos | Genetics
